October is officially Dyslexia awareness month. One in ten are thought to have dyslexia, so in a class of 30 children you are more than likely to have at least a couple of children with dyslexic tendencies. I’m not sure about you but I don’t ever recall, as a trainee teacher, having any training about different strategies to support children with dyslexia? I’ve also not heard about any research or studies about using outdoor learning to support children with dyslexia. Yet the two would appear to go hand in hand as outdoor learning is all about learning and applying your knowledge in a practical way.
Naturally I’ve started thinking about how you could support children with dyslexia through outdoor learning and it’s something I’m definitely going to explore in more detail. If you know of any projects, research or if you have worked outdoors with children who have dyslexia please get in touch!
This months product review is the Mud Kitchen Process Stones by Yellow Door Resources and I reviewed them with dyslexic children in mind. This is not the intended purpose of the resource as is it aimed at early years but as soon as I saw it I thought it was a resource with lots of potential. The video below shows you how you can use them for early years.
What are the Mud Kitchen Process Stones?
There are 10 stones in the set and they have a simple image of a cooking process one side with the corresponding word the other, such as a spoon and the word stir.
Any early years setting would love these as they promote discussion and encourage the use of vocabulary. However, I think they would be perfect for Key Stage 1 and even some children in Key Stage 2 who find ordering and sequencing challenging. For children with dyslexia who enjoy hands on learning and need help sequencing these are a fantastic resource to have.
How we used the stones
However, any child would find these tactile stones a great way to support their learning and help with instruction writing. We used the stones to identify verbs and we acted them out using the mud kitchen utensils as an aid. During the product review the stones were used to help sequence instructions to make a potion. I extended the use of the stones so they were suitable for a Key Stage 1 child by adding in conjunctions and adverbs. My reluctant writer loved them! He couldn’t wait to get writing the instructions to make his potion to turn people into frogs. They really helped him to focus on the process and order the sequence of events.
Pros
- tactile
- perfect size for little hands
- encourages the use of language and communication
- develops sequencing skills
- images and words are a great way to relate words to pictures
- a resource that can be used for a range of abilities and levels
- durable for outdoor use
Cons
- none, we loved them!
Harry’s view (age 6)
I like the stones because they are really fun. You can use them to see if your instructions are right and they help you to write. I would use them again and I think all schools should have them because they are fun!
A video of how we used the Process Stones
Here’s a little video of how we used the stones to aid our instruction writing in outdoor learning.
The British Dyslexia Association
The British Dyslexia Association are helping to raise awareness of dyslexia and are encouraging people to sign a government petition so that children can have more access to dyslexia diagnostic assessments and more support in schools for those who have dyslexia. Click on the link below to find out more information and join the campaign.
